Locked in -- Possible selves -- Mental spirals -- A hole in the heart -- The blank slate -- A city of refuge -- The missing piece -- Appendix: Getting to the other side of change: your change survival kit

"A moving, revelatory exploration of the ways we can find meaning in the tumult of change, from a renowned cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans. Life has a way of thwarting our best-laid plans. Out of nowhere you lose a job, end a relationship, get an unexpected diagnosis, or suffer some other trick of fate. When your world is turned upside down like this, it can feel like you're free-falling into the unknown. Maya Shankar has spent decades researching people's interior lives. When an unexpected change in her life left her feeling isolated and despondent, she was convinced she must have missed something. Had others figured out how to do change better? She sought out people who had undergone life-altering, extraordinary change and asked them to tell her everything. The process of listening deeply as others recounted their experiences led her to surprising insights that can help us all better navigate personal upheaval. She shares their intimate, illuminating stories: a mother afraid to connect with her critically ill child, an incarcerated man searching for a new path forward, a writer muted by the shame of a family secret. Each had to recognize that they were shackled by a particular way of thinking before they were able to find a different perspective that unlocked new and freeing possibilities. They realized that the ideas they had long taken for granted-about how the world works, about themselves, about where they found meaning or safety-could be radically reconsidered. Drawing on the latest scientific research, Shankar invites us to explore who we can become on the other side of seismic change. With the right perspective, what begins as a destabilizing and frightening experience has the potential to set off a process of discovery that can crack open a deeper understanding of who we are and the potential within us"-- Provided by publisher